13th Sunday in Greentime
The Royal Law in 2007AD
Several times in the Christian Scriptures, the inspired writers stress the permanence of the Jewish ethical teaching, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” No matter how the earliest members of the Jesus Movement viewed the rituals of Judaism, the consensus was that love of neighbor was the non-negotiable principle of “ethical monotheism”, viz., human behavior predicated on belief in one God. The “royal law” as it called in the Letter of St James (possibly written around 60AD) was proclaimed.
Recently, a NY Jesuit, Fr Jim Keenan, wrote a short book on the relevance of the Ten Commandments in Catholic thinking in the present time. He spoke of the fact that most children use the tactic, “That’s not fair” when another child’s parent does something the upset child wanted one’s own parents to do or let them do. Somewhere, along the way, most people stop using the tactic as they “assume control” (although each of us, individually and collectively, learns that autonomy is an illusion because YHWH is in control.)
With regard to the commandment of ethical monotheism, to which St Paul alludes today, Catholics can legitimately ask the question about how fair things that have been done in our common name. In 1986, and before, the American bishops and many other church spokespeople have started to use the concept of structural or systemic sin, viz., when institutions that have been created by individuals violate the principles of ethical monotheism.
Recently, historian, Stephen Kinzer, published a book entitled, Overthrow (
Pope John Paul II, in his Message for the World Day of Peace, January 1, 2003AD, saw the imminence of a Second Gulf War and spoke of his belief that there were no moral free zones from which individuals and/or institutions are exempt from the scrutiny of the Gospel. The question of the principle of ethical monotheism, the royal law, “Love thy neighbor as thyself” certainly falls into what the Pope was saying. Fr Keenan’s principle of asking the question, “Is that fair?” would be an application of the teaching as well.
An appropriate meditation for American Catholics this weekend would be paragraph 7 from Pope John Paul’s message. “Against those who think of politics as a realm of necessity detached from morality and subject only to partisan interests, Blessed John XXIII, in Pacem in Terris, outlines a truer picture of human reality. Precisely because human beings are created with the capacity for moral choice, no human activity takes place outside the sphere of moral judgment. Politics is a human activity; therefore, it too is subject to a distinctive form of moral scrutiny. This is also true in international politics. As Blessed John wrote, “The same natural law that governs the life and conduct of individuals must also regulate the relations of political communities with one another.” Those who imagine that international public life takes place somewhere outside the realm of moral judgment need only reflect on the impact of human rights movements on the national and international politics of the 20trh century. These developments refute the claim that international politics must of necessity be a “free zone” in which moral law holds no sway.”
Think about picking up Kinzer’s book and read it during the summer. Read it in tandem of Pope John Paul’s message for New Year’s, 2003AD (available on the internet, through our parish website). Then re-read the second reading from today’s Liturgy of the Word about the Royal Law of ethical monotheism. Then, share your insights with the children. 070107AD jfq
